Five Times Jeff Imagined Being Married To Annie
by robert3A-SN
Summary: Annie's been accused of seeing things with Jeff in her head and getting lost in fantasies. But this lists five times that Jeff's been the one to imagine being married with Annie – before the one time he actually did it. One section includes spoilers/speculation for tonight's episode.


**One section of this has spoilers, and a best case scenario on my part, for tonight's episode. Technically, this whole thing is inspired by tonight's episode, since it supposedly has Annie imagining being married to Jeff – and could go so wrong and look so bad on Annie in a number of ways.**

**But before she gets accused of seeing things in her head and being a love sick school girl again, unfairly or not, I needed to write this to provide a proper context, and remind us that Annie isn't the only one who imagines things. Even if the show forgets tonight that Jeff has his own Annie fantasies and carried away feelings that DO NOT make things one-sided, this piece – this fluffy piece that may or may not look like real comfort food in 12+ hours – does not.**

**Five times Jeff imagined being married to Annie**

**May 2010**

He was going to call her.

It took a week of hiding out in his apartment first. But Jeff finally had just enough strength to call Annie.

Drowning the memory of their kiss out with alcohol didn't work. The three days where he turned off his phone didn't work, and had put him through a nasty detox. Sleeping through the next two days severely backfired, once the kiss eventually got into his dreams. After the last one went further than kissing, Jeff had enough.

Jeff bolstered his confidence by telling himself this was silly. Annie hadn't actually called him or knocked on his door since the kiss. She probably got all her own crazy, confused emotions out of her system by now. Since she had, she'd be ready to listen to anything.

That was the thing with Annie. All through this past year, she was really good at listening. It helped her understand him as well as anyone else in that crazy group. In fact, their real, honest talks were among Jeff's finest memories of the last year. And once they broke the ice in this talk, they'd be able to move forward.

Jeff liked that he could talk to Annie like this. That's how last week's whole mess started. But if they could clean up the mess now, which he knew they could do, they'd be all the better for it. They'd save their friendship, the group would never find out what happened, and Jeff wouldn't be deformed for his crime after all.

Not that the kiss felt criminal at the time.

That damn talk, her damn need to stay in Greendale, her damn hug, and her damn first kiss sure made him ready for a life of crime.

At least two of those things would likely happen again soon. And then….

_Suddenly Jeff saw another talk that led to a kiss. And another few kisses after that. Then another few kisses outside of Greendale. In his apartment. In public places. In hotel rooms._

_In a church._

_In a house._

_When Jeff envisioned kissing Annie in that house, it didn't take long to spot his hand in her hair, just like in the Tranny kiss. Only this time, a finger that wasn't covered by her hair had a ring on it._

_And Annie's hand on the back of his neck had one too._

"What the hell?!" Jeff heard himself yell to snap out of that fantasy.

No. That wasn't it. It was a waking nightmare.

Not even a fantasy Jeff was supposed to have a ring on his finger. Not _that _kind of ring. And no teenager was supposed to have one with him!

For a brief second, Jeff felt bad for thinking about Annie that way.

_Then his thoughts turned to Annie holding up her wedding ring finger, and clinking it with Jeff's in the house. In their house._

That vision only lasted another second. But just one second of a fantasy, married Jeff Winger was too much to handle.

In his panic, Jeff looked down to see that he'd already dialed Annie's number. He just had to press send to make the call.

Instead, he turned off his phone and decided to sleep and drink for the rest of the day. Somehow, that was the right combination to snap him out of this madness.

He never dialed Annie's number again the rest of the summer.

**April 2011**

With their diorama finished, their past adventures recapped, Jeff and Britta's secrets exposed – and other secrets denied – the group finally headed their separate ways for the day.

Jeff took a last look at the group before leaving for his car. He didn't linger too long on Britta – but he almost couldn't look away at the distracted, disappointed look on Annie's face. He turned away before Annie actually saw him looking, but it was a close call.

Yet that look stayed with Jeff for the entire walk to his car. It wouldn't leave him alone during the drive home, either. Neither did the obvious reason for her look.

It was easy enough to ignore and dismiss it in front of the group, when he really had to. But doing it by himself was another losing matter.

For a brief second, Jeff almost wished he took Annie aside privately and told her….something. Not that anything he could tell her would get him off the hook. Or be completely safe to admit. Or not get him killed by his meddling friends anyway, despite his stay of execution today.

Yet somehow, he sensed only one of those friends could really kill him. And not physically.

But after today, she might go for the quick, physical death if he came near her. A part of him – one he really wished didn't exist –wouldn't have blamed her.

Then again, if he could deny the 'Annie of it All' right in front of her and crush her, denying this stupid, guilty part of himself should be easier. Should be, anyway.

Yet it kept urging Jeff to turn back and talk to her. As if doing that had been so easy this past year. As if it would ever be as easy as it once was, if it was even easy back then.

God, to think how far he and Annie had fallen in just 11 months. To think back then that he had….

_There they were in that house with those rings again. It was stunning how Jeff had blocked this out for 11 months, yet every little detail was coming back to him now._

_But it was a new twist when fantasy wife Annie had that same sad look on her face as real single Annie._

As if this fantasy wasn't awful enough without that image. It was bad enough he couldn't fix it in real life, and now he couldn't….

Wait. Fantasy tended to work differently than real life. And it didn't have any real, ugly, lame, way too hard consequences, which was a big plus right there.

This could work out with a few mental gymnastics.

_Jeff returned to his imagination and mentally erased a few things. He deleted the wedding rings and got rid of all the married, couple-y photos in their fantasy house. Without those things to distract him and make him question certain things, Jeff could make Annie feel better in their fake life, since he couldn't in the real one._

_It helped that Jeff didn't have to imagine saying real words, either. His lips were moving, but nothing was coming out – at least nothing that real Jeff could hear and get screwed up by. All that mattered was seeing fantasy Jeff silently flap his gums, and fantasy Annie start to light up again as a result._

_Why it mattered to see her light up; well, no one had to hear that either._

_Slowly but surely, Jeff liked retreating to a world where he could make Annie feel better and smile again. As long as there was no sound and there were no tricky props to break the mood._

Of course, when Annie shot his 'Milady' down in paintball and wouldn't get off the Pierce crazy train, he didn't have time to resort to fantasies. So he actually tried to make her smile in real life again, and aside from going back to head pats, it seemed to work.

But when Pierce quit the group, no words or pats could prop Annie up again. The fact that this kept Jeff from jumping for joy was even more unsettling.

The best way for Jeff to celebrate and to see Annie happy that summer was to do it in fantasy. He still remembered to keep the location neutral and their hands bare, of course. However, this allowed Jeff's daydreams to develop and get more extravagant.

By the time they devolved into a full on musical number – complete with a particularly suggestive lyric – Jeff's real and fantasy selves didn't notice. At least it was better than a couple of alternatives. Even if he still felt a little funny anyway.

**March 2012**

Jeff had felt funny about Annie smiles before. But seeing that particular smile on her face – after one of his more kickass Winger speeches – really did a number on him. At that moment, Blade, Britta, head traumas, liking himself and driving women crazy were totally forgotten.

As he felt himself smiling back, Jeff almost wished that Troy, Britta and Abed weren't in the apartment, or were at least watching a better movie. Otherwise he wouldn't have to stop staring at her and her smile. If they were all alone, he wouldn't have to. If they were –

_He then saw Annie give him that smile again – only in bed first thing in the morning_.

Jeff finally broke the stare in real life, his smile completely disappearing as he looked down at the floor. Annie didn't seem to notice, and Abed was saying something unrelated that Jeff wasn't paying attention to. He was too busy trying not to smile again, or think about how he had that psychotic married fantasy in Annie's presence this time.

_That was enough to put him right back where he left off in his brain. This time, when he pictured Annie giving him that smile after waking up in the morning, he couldn't turn it off._

_He couldn't turn it off when she smiled at him before she went to work. She was always more fashionably early for her job than he was for his._

_He couldn't ignore her smiling like that when they were watching TV either. They weren't saying a word or mocking the bad TV show, yet they still looked comfy together._

_Then just as that smile was the first thing Jeff saw in the morning, it was the last thing he saw before she kissed him goodnight and he closed his eyes._

Somehow, Jeff came back to life in the real world without making a noise. Luckily, Troy and Abed were too engrossed by the movie version of Blade to notice. He didn't dare to check if Britta or Annie had the same problem.

Jeff seriously thought he'd had this licked by now. Over the last several months, he'd been plagued with fantasy musical numbers, sexy Santa numbers, images in hearts and being ignored on his cell phone. But the whole married to Annie fantasy was supposed to be dead and discredited by now.

Yet he'd erased the wedding rings from their hands last time. Therefore, there was no need to even think of the m word again.

Then again, he was too distracted by fantasy Annie's smile to see if the rings were back. As troubling as that was in real life, it gave him plausible deniability in fantasy world.

He wasn't fantasizing about being married to Annie. They were probably just sleeping together or in a casual relationship. That was still troubling, but far more manageable.

Besides, they were both way too unrealistically happy, even in a fantasy casual relationship. There was still no way that was even close to reality – even if reality had seemed less appealing the last few months.

Even if that real smile and fake fantasy had been way too good to drown out with alcohol. Not like that heart thing.

Damn it to hell.

Well, he still wasn't dreaming about being married. They were just sleeping together or getting stuff out of their system, and he'd seen nothing to tell him otherwise. He hadn't.

Okay, maybe that other stuff looked and sounded better than he'd been willing to admit. Maybe that was enough to clue him in that he wanted _something _more with Annie. But labeling it remained useless – especially with _that _label.

And yet it bothered him _just a little _when Annie seemed less bubbly around him after that three-hour lunch. Then he felt _just a little _eagerness when Annie sent him that misleading text. And when they worked together on the yam case. And when he actually stopped her from being like him, although he wasn't supposed to be capable of that.

Okay, so maybe _parts _of his fantasies seemed less fantastical lately.

But marriage was still the major exception. He had some dignity left, after all.

**November 2012**

Jeff tried to ignore it all. He really did.

He tried not to think about Annie staying in a room under his name. He tried not to think about how she wouldn't leave the convention with him, and why he might have wanted her to. He tried not to regret wasting his plans to hang around her, and why he made them to begin with.

But he couldn't carry them out around lame stuff like Inspector Spacetime and Jeff's alien lookalike. At least that part was 95 percent true, for one reason or another.

He even managed not to think when he went to the lobby and talked to a hot Spacetime fan. Annie made that perfectly clear when she threw a drink at him and acted as his jealous wife. And the fact she even pretended to be his wife was just _way _too much to think about. Even if it was just to keep the hotel room – and even if that still sounded _a little _disappointing.

But when the convention was over, he couldn't ignore the strange need to clear the air. Or that Annie didn't seem affected by Jeff's attempt to reach out anyway.

Afterwards, Jeff sat back in the lobby, trying to determine why she had become so indifferent. Unfortunately for him, he let his guard down and overheard the hotel staff.

He heard their gossip about what a jerk Mr. Winger was, and how Mrs. Winger should have poured a larger glass on him. He heard their snide comments about how Thoraxis deserved a better, more faithful lookalike.

He heard them feel sorry for poor 'Mrs. Winger' for having such a lousy husband.

_This time, there was no hiding the wedding ring in this fantasy. Or the shared house, or wedding pictures, or anything else Jeff had blocked out for two years in his dream world._

_But other than that, there was no wedded bliss to be found here._

_There were scenes of Jeff drinking during an argument. Then there were images of Jeff walking out of the house while Annie was frustrated and angry. Then when he was back, Annie was holding up a note with a phone number that another woman slipped into Jeff's suit. Then there was an image of Jeff not being affected by the Disney face anymore – which should have felt more empowering than it was._

_Jeff not only imagined being a bad real husband, he couldn't stop hearing the real life comments about how bad a fake husband he was. That combination was almost way too much._

_But it was the truth. How the hell could Jeff be a good husband, real or otherwise? He'd spent his whole life exposed to bad husbands, so what he did know about the good ones? Why would he want to know? It was too hard and too lame and too…..disappointing._

_Disappointing. Just like his father._

That final thought shoved Jeff back into real life. But it barely looked better than fantasy life right now. Maybe it would improve if he got some air.

Jeff rushed to the back of the hotel to breathe and get a hold of himself. Once his mind was readjusted, he tried to put this in a proper context.

Sure, he let himself imagine married life with Annie for more than a second. Sure, he'd been horrible to Annie in that vision. Sure, he was an even worse husband there than he'd been made to look in this hotel. Sure, Annie now seemed less eager to be with him in reality too. But it wasn't worth caring about it because….

Oh, like Hell that would work anymore.

God, New Jeff was such a pill. But he was right, God damn him.

He was right to tell Jeff he took some steps back this weekend. Hell, he'd actually dialed his father's number last week, yet he chickened out and hung up then – and he chickened out now too.

To think, a week after wanting to do a couples – _pairs _– costume with Annie – in _that _costume, no less – he couldn't even bother to hang out with Annie like he wanted. Instead, he'd let the embarrassment of being at a lame convention, and being a lame lookalike for a lame TV alien, become more important to him than being around her. And for some reason, he wound up being more eager to talk to another woman instead, although hitting on other women hadn't been a big priority lately.

After making so much progress, Jeff had thrown too much away. Now after three years, Annie probably finally figured out he wasn't worth it. Why wasn't that a relief anymore?

Even Jeff had run out of lies to tell himself by then.

He didn't want to be married to Annie or anyone, that much was still true! But….but….

If he was ever going to do it, he didn't want to do it like that. Especially not to Annie.

The truth was, if he was ever brave/stupid enough to get married, he'd be brave/stupid enough to do anything to get it right then. Especially with her.

He wouldn't and couldn't let her become a neglected, weak willed wife because of him. She was so much stronger and better than that. Hell, she'd been tougher and stronger around him than ever these last few weeks. And it was kind of hard not to be proud of her.

People _should_ be proud of her. Any husband of hers should be proud of her and brag about her every day. Any real or fake husband, or real or fake anything, shouldn't pass up all these chances to be around her more, like Jeff had lately.

Instead, he was too weak to suck it up and enjoy her company, even around stupid sci-fi stuff. He chose the coward's way out like his father would have done.

If he'd actually spoken to him after Halloween, would he have acted different? If he'd taken a chance then, would he have taken a greater and better chance with Annie this weekend?

Jeff didn't know. All he knew was what happened when he didn't try. And now it might be too late for any Annie to believe in him anymore.

Married or not, or in a relationship or not, that was too unacceptable.

When Jeff returned home, he called that number and actually stayed on the line. Yet this couldn't just be done over the phone. So he arranged to meet with his dad in person on Thanksgiving.

That gave him a few weeks to prepare, keep himself from chickening out and remember who would be proud of him for being brave. If she could still think of him that way.

But when Thanksgiving was over, Annie looked pretty proud. So did Jeff, really. It made him feel like he could do anything and take on any remaining obstacle. At least if the rewards were big enough.

He swore he would find out before graduation. And despite some hiccups, he did it with just enough time to spare.

Later on, Jeff learned Annie had disappointing fantasies about being Mrs. Winger that weekend too. Fortunately, enough time had passed that they could laugh about it – eventually.

**November 2014**

In 2013, Annie convinced Jeff that having Thanksgiving with his one remaining parent would balance out last year's turmoil. As his girlfriend of 10 months, she had enough pull to talk him into it, and then to do it again the next year.

But he couldn't remember why he was in his mom's room while her and Annie cleaned up the kitchen. Whatever he needed to find for her was long forgotten, because of what he just found.

Namely, his mom's old wedding ring.

In the later years of Doreen Winger's marriage to William, that ring was like a steel trap. Of course, William's ring didn't have the same power over him. It was a wonder that Doreen kept this one, with all the bad memories it carried.

Then again, memories of William Winger could be less haunting over time. No one knew that better than Jeff lately – at least no one in the Winger family. Annie knew, and Jeff had made her reap the benefits at least 90 percent of the time.

If they'd kicked his dad's ass so thoroughly at relationships, imagine what they could do with –

_Jeff had let Annie have a wedding ring in at least two fantasies. But this was the first time she had his mom's ring._

_A ring that had symbolized disappointment, pain and a broken home had now been used to bring one together._

_A ring that meant nothing real to William meant the world to Jeff when he put it on Annie. It did when he first put it on her while on one knee, and when he did it again inside a church._

_A ring that Jeff couldn't stand to look at as a kid was now something he had to see every day. He could catch it glowing when Annie woke up in bed, or sneak a peek at it during breakfast, or toy with it while holding her hand, or notice it was the only thing she kept on during sex._

_A ring that symbolized how broken and useless marriage was had become part of a solemn promise. A promise Jeff kept every day – or at least most days – by sticking around in an argument, by keeping Annie happy, by helping her be a wife as much as she helped him be a husband, and by being part of a real team._

_Jeff liked being part of Annie's team. He liked having the best, most fun, brilliant and gorgeous partner there was. Hell, they'd overcome more crap before and during their relationship than his parents ever did in marriage. If no one knew any better, they'd think they were married already._

_They'd think they were married already._

_In fact, they already did everything that Jeff fantasized about, only without the ring. If the ring was really the only difference….then why not change that?_

_Jeff had already improved on his father in every other way. Why not improve the ring while he was at it? Why not take this symbol of a broken past and reinvent it into something different and better – much like Jeff himself?_

_Everything that his father symbolized had become better when Annie was involved. After all that, why would marriage and this ring be the only exceptions? How could they be?_

_One final series of flashes of Annie wearing the ring, showing off the ring, tapping Jeff with the ring, and caressing him with her ring hand gave him his answer._

When Jeff snapped back into reality, he shook his head to get the cobwebs out. Yet certain big ideas he'd just had weren't going anyway.

They didn't even fade when Jeff noticed his mother coming into the room.

And when she saw him holding that ring, she knew what he would ask her before he even spoke.

Yet just like with his last November epiphany, Jeff needed a few months to prepare before he could share it with Annie herself. But the results were worth it again.

**And one time he was married**

**November 2016**

"Happy anniversary!"

It was one thing for all of Jeff's friends to come out and yell that when he got home. It was another thing for Annie to be among them.

He was supposed to surprise her when he got home tonight. Yet here she was, in on a surprise party for_ him_, as if he was the only one in this year-long marriage.

But she explained, "It's no big deal if _I've_ been married for a year, Jeff. You never thought this would happen, so I thought we should all celebrate how wrong you were."

That might not have been as sweet out of context, or if it was said to anyone else. But Jeff got the right context and message from Annie's words.

Of course, he was still a bit annoyed that they had to celebrate with other people. Yet at least half of that was for show, and the other half stayed quiet after a few drinks and games.

The Winger-Edisons didn't have as many nights with the old study group as they used to. But naturally, Annie still thought about them on her own anniversary. Being married to Jeff for a year hadn't ruined her moral character after all. In fact, there was more of it to go around on both sides these days.

A case in point was how Jeff still wanted to sweep Annie off her feet, even though she made this night about him. So he made sure the group went home early and actually cleaned one or two things up when they were gone.

"Are you sure it was okay to bring them here tonight?" Annie double checked.

"It was a few things. I'm sure that okay was one of them," Jeff quipped.

"Good. I wanted to have one last party where it was just all of us," Annie said, with some of that going over Jeff's head at first. "I don't know if we can do all this at our next anniversary."

Jeff noticed Annie getting a little timid, before she shyly finished, "At least not if we don't find a sitter."

For all of Jeff's past ideas about being married to Annie, he had forgotten one potential outcome.

He had never thought that would be an option, or one he would remotely like. Yet in that one second, those two theories were blown away – along with every remaining unfulfilled fantasy he ever had.

Jeff got too caught up to give Annie his own presents – at least his regularly scheduled presents – until the next afternoon. He would have done it in the morning, but she was ready to tell the rest of the group then, and take her lumps for not telling them last night.

Even if she could have called them that night when they got home, her husband had her….otherwise occupied.


End file.
